This proposal is to undertake at Syracuse University a multidisciplinary effort in research and instruction in the cross-national study of issues of social policy and aging. This initiative is to be led by Richard V. Burkhauser. Over the past few years, Syracuse University has significantly expanded its commitment to aging research. Three recently hired senior faculty at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs have a strong commitment to such research. Richard Burkhauser, one of these faculty, will be made Associate Director of the All-University Gerontology Center, which currently houses a five year NIA funded program project (P01) grant (1991-1996), of which he is principal investigator. This grant will establish Syracuse as a leading center for cross-national research on public policy issues in aging. Using the unique data that are being gathered in this P01, Burkhauser proposes to undertake the responsibilities of a Geriatric Leadership Academic Award through establishing and directing a new Program in Cross-National Studies in Aging within the Gerontology Center at Syracuse. This will serve both to institutionalize the research effort generated by the P01, and to further extend the base of aging studies now being carried out at Syracuse. This will be achieved by facilitating access to these data for Syracuse researchers of various disciplines and by holding a weekly research seminar to showcase both the research of the P01 group, as well as other Syracuse researchers who develop research projects from the POI and -related data. We will also bring to Syracuse international researchers who are working on projects that are related to the research objectives of the P01 and the new Program. By these means, this initiative will make an important contribution to encouraging and expanding both teaching and research related to social policy and aging at Syracuse. The proposal requests three years of support from a Geriatric Leadership Academic Award to permit Burkhauser to lead this new educational and research initiative at the intersection of aging, economics, and policy analysis.